Internal combustion engine



Feb, 18, 1941,. Rv sTesKAL Immun ccMBusTLoN 4ENGIms:

Filed March 50, 19:59

g Q wmwwl Patented Feb. 18, 1941` `.UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE i l l 2,332,413 l f INTERNAL ooMUsTlo-N ENGINE Rudolph steskal, Berwyn, nl. Application Malen 3o, 1939, serial No. 264,915

' iolaims. i (o1. 12a-122) This invention relates to an improvement in an internal combustion engine and more Aparticularly to an improved manifold structure designed to vaporize heavy fuel oils sozthat they may be used .as fuel in standard electricallyignited internal combustion engines.

An object of the invention is to providean improved manifold structure wherein fuel may be intensely heated after leaving the carburetor and before entering the intake manifold.

A further object of the invention is to provide within a heating chamber heated by the exhaust gases of the engine a vaporizing passage through which the vaporized fuel may be drawn into the intake manifold without any obstruction to the normal passage of the vaporized fuel. y I l A further object of the invention is to provide Within the vaporizing passage a series of cross walls which may intercept any liquid or condensed fuel carried by the stream of vaporized fuel and retain such liquid until f completely Vaporized.

A further object of the invention is to provide a series of pockets within the vaporizing passage in which any condensed fuel may collect and be subjected to intense heat and 1ow ered pressure to assist in the vaporizationof the condensed fuel.

The primary object of the invention is toprovide an exhaust heated vaporizing passage which will entrap any condensed fuel and prevents its entry into the intake lmanifold and cylinders of the engine, until it has been vaporized.

Other objects, capabilities, and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description thereof taken in conjunction with the drawing, which shows a preferred form of an Aembodiment of my invention, in which:

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the entire manifold structure;

Fig. `2 is a vertical section of the entire manifold structure taken on the line 2-.-.2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail View of a fragment of the vaporizing passage I3 in Fig. 1- with a modified form of cross walls 3U;

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail View of a fragment of the Vaporizing passage I3, similar to Fig. 3, with the cross Walls 25 placed in staggered relation; and Fig. 5 is an elevation of the manifold structure showing two carburetors connected thereto.

Referring to the drawing, the entire manifold casing is indicated by the numeral I I. The manifold casing is mounted at the side of the internal combustion engine block, adjacent the intake and exhaust ports .of the cylinders. The casing is composed of the heating chamber I2, which entirely surrounds an extended horizontally disexhaust manifold I4.

posed Vaporizing passage I3, and is connected With'the exhaust manifold I4.

The vaporizing passage I3 leads from a carburetor or carburetors 3| tol` the intake manifold I5. i 5

`Indicated in dotted lines at the lower part of the manifold casing II are the `exhaust ports I6, all of which lead from the respective cylinders of the internal combustion engine into the The exhaustmanifold I4 is separated from the heating. chamber I2 by the partition 20 which is open at one end so that the hot exhaust gases may flow directly from the exhaust manifold I4 into the heating chamber I2 and thence through the exhaust pipe I'I to the mufer, which is not shown. I

At one end of the exhaust manifold is shown a by-pass I8 yby which the exhaust gases may be conducted directly from the exhaust manifold into the exhaust pipe I1 and thence to the muier, which is not shown. In the exhaust bypass IB is a valve I9. The valve I9 may be manually operated to control the amount of exhaust gases which are to be led directly fromy the exhaust manifold to the exhaust pipe without passing 'through the heating chamber, and thus -to control the temperature of the heating chamber I2, or automatic thermostatic controls may be provided to maintain a uniform temper, ature within the heating chamber.

The vaporizing passage I3 is an extended horizontal'passage heated by the exhaust gases and connected at the inlets 2i to the carburetor or carburetors 3| by a flange or flanges 22,. Each y of the` flanges 22 is designed to be secured to '35 a corresponding flange on a oarburetoror a duct leading therefrom.

The fuel inlets 2l lead directly into the extended horizontal vaporizing passage I3. This.-- vaporizing passage vI3 is shown in the drawings as rectangulary in section. `It may be appropriately formed in circulary or partly circular forms without affecting the operating principles involved. 1.

As shown, the vaporizng passage I3 is made up 45 of an upper Wall 23, a lower wall 24 and side walls 25, all of which are completely surrounded by the heating chamber I2 through which the exhaust gases are conducted. @Within the vapor-figo izing `passage I3 are cross walls 26 which, as shown in Fig. 2, connect the side walls 25 and thus form an extended series of pockets 21 at the bottom and at the top of the vaporizing passage. Between the free edges of the cross Wallsfi 26 is an uninterrupted passage for the flow of the fuel gases therethrough. It is to be noted that the cross walls 26 are disposed at an acute angle to the top wall 23 and bottom wall 24,

in the direction opposite to that of the stream 50 28 is therefore connected intermediate the ends of the vaporizing passage I3 so that the cross Walls 2B are inclined oppositely toward the ends of the passage from its connection with the riser. The intake manifold I is connected to the cylinder intake ports 29, of which three are shown in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 3 a fragmentary view of a detail of the vaporizing passage I3 shows modified cross walls which, insteadv of being made of simple transverse fins, connecting the side walls 25 of the vaporizing passage I3, are constructed in hollow form. In this construction greater sur` faces of the cross walls are exposed to the exhaust gases to provide more intense heatwithin the vaporizing passage I3, and at all sides of the pockets 21.

In Fig. 4, also a sectional View of a fragmentary detail of the vaporizing passage I3, is shown a modification of the vaporizing passage in which the cross walls 26 are staggered so that the free edges of the cross walls 26 attached to the top wall 23 of the vaporizing passage lie intermediate the free edges of the cross walls 26 attached to the bottom wall of the vaporizing passage I3. The staggering of these free edges will insure that any condensed fuel vapor which drips from the edges of the upper cross walls, especially when the internal combustion engine is at rest, will fall Within the pockets 2I formed by the successive cross walls.

The operation of the structure heretofore described is as follows:

If the internal combustion engine has been at rest, any fuel vapors Within the intake passage below the carburetors which may be con- -densed upon the interior surfaces of portions of the intake system above the vertical riser 28 will be collected within the pockets 2l of the vaporizing passage I3. When the internal combustion engine is started the vaporized fuels from the carburetor will be drawn through the inlet ports 2|, the vaporizing passage I3, the riser 28, and the manifold I5, into the cylinder intake ports 29. The course of the fuel gases is indicated by arrows.

In passing through the vaporizing passage I3, the gas passes through the uninterrupted passage between the cross walls 26. Any condensed droplets or unvaporized liquid will drop out of the stream into the pockets 21. The gases condensed when the engine was at rest also lie withinthe pockets 21.

When the engine is started the hot exhaust gases from the exhaust ports I6 begin immediately to flow into the exhaust manifold I4 and thence into the heating chamber I2. The walls of the vaporizing passage I3 are heated by these gases, and the heat is conducted by the cross walls 2E from the vaporizing passage walls 23, 24 and 25 into the vaporizing passage and into contact with any condensed fuel that may lie within the pockets 21.

The cross walls 26 serve also to heat thespace in the vaporizing passage. The cross walls on Alow pressure at the mouths of the pockets 2l'.

This low pressure and the increased heat imparted to any condensed fuel within the pockets 2l speeds up the vaporization of this liquid and readily transforms it into fuel vapor which is drawn into the passing stream in the vaporizing passage and through the vertical riser 28 and the intake manifold I5 into the cylinder intake ports 29.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an internal combustion engine a fuel intake system comprising a carburetor, an intake manifold, and an extended horizontally disposed vaporimng passage between said carburetor and said manifold and heated by the exhaust gases, said vaporizing passage having upper downwardly extending cross walls and lower upwardly extending cross walls both inclined toward the inlet of the passage and forming pockets on the upper and' lower walls thereof for the reception and retention of condensed fuel vapors, and a free straight passage between said pockets for the flow of fuel vapor therethrough.

2. In an internal combustion engine a fuel intake system comprising a carburetor, an intake manifold, a horizontally disposed vaporizing passage between said carburetor and said intake manifold enclosed within a chamber through which the hot exhaust gases of the engine now, a series of cross walls extending downwardly from the top and upwardly from the bottom in an acute angle to the direction of flow within said vaporizing passage forming pockets at the top and bottom thereof, and a free straight passage between the free edges of said cross walls.

3. In an internal combustion engine having a carburetor and an intake manifold,l a fuel intake system between said carburetor and the intake manifold comprising a heated chamber heated by the exhaust gases from said engine, a horizontal vaporizing passage within said heated` chamber, transverse cross walls within said vaporizing passage extending inwardly from the top and bottom walls of said passage and inclined toward the inlet thereof to form fuel pockets, and a free straight passage between the` free edges 'of said cross walls.

4. In an internal combustion engine,.a fuel Vaporizer system comprising a casing through which the hot exhaust gases of the engine now,

an intake manifold and a connected vaporizing.

tending cross walls and lower upwardly extend-` ing cross walls both inclined away from the central manifold and toward the ends of the passage forming fuel pockets at the top and bottom of the passage, and a free passage between the free edges of the cross walls.

' RUDOLPH STESKAL. 

